Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Received a Ruger Police Service-Six .357 revolver today. Took it apart for cleaning and was reminded of the love/hate feelings that Ruger products give me. I hate their 'collaborator' mentality that doesnt let them sell folding stocks, hi-cap Mini-14 mags and gave support to politicians who wanted to take away my guns.

On the other hand, their engineering has some shining moments. This pistol can, literally, be completely disassembled using no outside implement except a coin to unscrew the grips. Try that with a S&W sometime. True, when it comes to revolvers I am first and foremost a Smith man, but I can appreciate the rugged brute-force strength of Rugers products. Ten years after the apocalypse I bet there'll be more Ruger .44 mags out there than any other brand, the others having died gruesome deaths earlier at the hands of cruddy ammo, exposure, rust, parts breakage and general malfunction. The Rugers, however, will keep chugging along in all their ungainly, unergonomic glory. Much like an AK.
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Surprise, surprise…one of the LMI is going to Iraq (or Afghanistan..he isnt sure yet). He's signed up to drive convoys and repiar trucks for a private outfit. (No, not Blackwater or haliburton.) He leaves Sunday. He'll be gone for at least a year. He gets 10 days off and a plane ticket every four months. Room, board and kevlar are paid for. Weapons not issued nor encouraged but you kow everyone skrits that one. And he gets $96,000 for his one year. He's doing it for the money and for a little adventure. Told him that if he needed stuff sent to him to give me an email. So our happy little fire team will be short one man in case the apocalypse occurs in the next 12-18 months. On the other hand, once he gets back it will be interesting to see what kinda goodies he buys. He is taking some LMI gear to ease his stay..Whisperlite International, couple CamelBaks, SureFire, etc, etc. Too bad they wouldnt let him take his Kimber. I asked if he was worried about getting killed and he said he really isnt. I can see that. Theres thousands of guys over there doing what he's going to do and you only hear about the ones that get in trouble….Id say the odds are with him. Its also unlikely he's going to wind up on some beheading video since Im pretty confident he's the 'go down fighting' type. He was there in the first Gulf War so he has some idea of what to expect.
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The Arsenal AK's are really good. I make no secreat about that. Slap a side folding stock on one and is it worth $1100? No…put all the lipstick you want on a pig and its still a pig. Maybe a purebred, maybe a prize winner, but still a pig. The Arsenal AK's me and the girlfriend have were aroudn $600~ ea. Big money when you can get a more accurate AR for about $150 more. Theyre really good AK's, maybe the best available. But for the price of one you could by 1.5 AR-15's, an M1A, most of a DSA FAl, seven Yugo SKS, 20 Mosin Nagant rifles, three Glock handguns or four Remington 870's. Its $1100 for a gun that gives, at best, four or five inches at 100 yards with open sights.
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Received quite a few handy books over the birthday season and will be making some recommendations/reviews of them as I finish them. The most interesting so far is a book on 'greywater' management and use. Also got a nice book on container gardening which I find fascinating. I like the idea of growing my edibles in convenient containers that can be arranged to suit my needs.